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Definition of Dramatic Irony
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a character's understanding of a given situation, and that of the... read full definition
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a character's understanding of a given... read full definition
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a... read full definition
Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Talking Book:
In Chapter 3, Equiano describes his wonder at Dick and Pascal's ability to talk to books (especially the Bible) and hear their responses. Equiano is using dramatic irony to get at the complex emotional experience he had growing up enslaved:
I had often seen my master and Dick employed in reading; and I had a great curiosity to talk to the books, as I thought they did; and so to learn how all things had a beginning. For that purpose I have often taken up a book, and talked to it, and then put my ears to it, when alone, in hopes it would answer me; and I have been very much concerned when I found it remained silent.
Related Themes:
Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—Double Crossed:
In Chapter 4, Equiano uses dramatic irony to foreshadow his great disappointment when Pascal decides to sell him instead of freeing him. Equiano describes the misguided hope that built while he was aboard Pascal's ship:
Unlock with LitCharts A+[Pascal] even paid attention to my morals; and would never suffer me to deceive him, or tell lies, of which he used to tell me the consequences; and that if I did so, God would not love me. So that from all this tenderness I had never once supposed, in all my dreams of freedom, that he would think of detaining me any longer than I wished.
Related Themes:
